Letters to the editor: Gun meeting wasn't volatile

My wife and I were in the crowd Jan. 30 to hear from our two congressmen and U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey's representative about the current situation vis-a-vis the Second Amendment to our Constitution.

Contrary to the Erie Times-News editorial, the gathering of 500 people at Bob's Gun Shop was not "volatile and testy" ("Legislators, gun forum don't mix," Erie Times-News, Jan. 30). It was a civil and peaceable gathering of concerned citizens asking questions of their representatives in the federal government in an orderly fashion. The assumption by the Erie Times-News about this meeting was incorrect.

Harry Rearick, author of a guest voice column in the Jan. 30 Erie Times-News, wrote: "Could it be that these two congressmen are more interested in hearing the views from gun enthusiasts than from the average citizen?" What the writer was inferring -- and what we hear consistently from the liberal side of the argument -- is that Second Amendment advocates, "gun enthusiasts" in his parlance, are not the average citizen. Baloney.

I am tired of people who are concerned about the abrogation of our Constitution being framed as wing-nuts and fanatics. And incidentally, the meeting's host, Bob McDowell, was a gentleman who encouraged those present to treat people with differing viewpoints with respect. Don't let the media mislead you.

Roger Scarlett|Edinboro

Suspicions offered on gun crime

It appears that you can't go 48 hours without something in the news about a shooting, an arrest or a trial involving violence, mostly with guns. It also seems that the majority of the offenders are in their teens or 20s.

After reading and hearing these stories, my question is where are the parents? Did these parents ever sit down with their offspring as youngsters and tell them that this is bad? Did the parents ever attend a PTA meeting, take the kids to the library, go over their homework, attend a parent-teacher night or discuss the value of an education? Did they ever discuss what is honesty, integrity, a work ethic or citizenship?

My guess is that the majority of the offenders do not have a high school diploma, or even a GED. I believe that the majority of these individuals are not gainfully employed, paying taxes, putting into the Social Security system or filing income tax reports. I would guess that their current run-in with the law is not their first time in handcuffs. I think the majority of them are using illegal drugs and alcohol on a regular basis.

I think that if there is a veteran among them that they were not honorably discharged. I wonder how many of these adults vote? I would like to see the statistics on the number of crimes committed with guns that were possessed and obtained legally.

Instead of looking at charter schools and bump outs along State Street, the community effort should be to strengthen the family and educational values.

John Signorino|Erie

NRA stance turns off gun owner

I've been hunting since I was 12 years old and, as of now, I have my share of rifles, shotguns and pistols. When I bought my first pistol, I was told that there was a five-day waiting period before I could get my gun. The five days were to check my background. The exact words that I told the gun dealer were "I don't care if it takes you a month. I have nothing to worry about."

I was contemplating joining the National Rifle Association until I read that it was against background checks. That got me thinking: Why would anybody be against keeping criminals, lunatics and just plain scum of the Earth from purchasing a deadly weapon? I never did join the NRA just for that reason.

Fast-forward to the present time. With all of the mass killings of innocent people and everyday killings on the streets, the NRA has not changed its way of thinking on background checks one iota.

I'm a firm believer in the Second Amendment, but when the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution, they didn't have weapons that could fire 600 rounds a minute, and at the time, the British had their soldiers quartered in the colonies. Naturally, they wanted everyone to be able to keep and bear arms. They didn't mean for people to be able to slaughter their neighbors and groups of people.

Bud McKelvey|Hermitage

Lawmakers need to go

Please get your heads out of the sand and step back and take a look at the American people today. We have no sense of a family unit anymore and our family values have given way to no-fault divorce.

Our children are not to be disciplined any more. They have timeouts. Respect for one another has gone out the window. The court system is a joke. The criminals have more rights than the law-abiding citizens, thanks to our lawyers.

Our lawmakers need to experience unemployment and have their pensions lost due to mismanagement of their retirement funds. They need to experience the constant threat of the loss of Social Security.

Wake up, America, and get to the voting booth and get rid of the current lawmakers. It cannot be any worse off than we are now.

John Chimera|Erie

Volunteer patrol plan explained

Erie and Erie County, like other cities, have budgets they have to live with.

However, in order to curb the apparent violence that I have read about in the Erie Times-News, I have a suggestion. Palm Beach County has a great volunteer program called the Citizens Observer Patrol, which is part of the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office.

It was established in 1989 and now has more than 3,500 citizen volunteers. They wear distinctive uniforms and drive specially marked vehicles that look at first glance like sheriff's cars, but have the word Observer on the sides. Each C.O.P. vehicle is equipped with a radio and police scanner. They can't arrest anybody, but they can travel through the county and observe any suspicious activity. They are trained in traffic control if need be.

They assist if a motorist is in distress, but more importantly, they cruise through identified crime areas, and call in if an apparent crime is in progress.

The bottom line is this organization of volunteers would make Erie and Erie County a safer place.

I would like to see our city and county elected officials at least check out this program and see if it is feasible.